UAE-based social commerce and payments platform Zbooni has closed its Series A round with a second tranche of US$4.5 million. This brings its total Series A fundraise to US$9.4 million, the company said in a statement.

The round was raised from both new and existing investors, located regionally and internationally as well, the company said. Investors include regional family office March Holding, California VC firm Enterprise Fund (backed by former senior Atlassian executives), and Europe-based private investors.

Regional retail operator Chalhoub Group, who happen to be existing investors in Zbooni, also pitched in through their investment vertical CCVA. Further, Chalhoub Group will be integrating Zbooni’s solution across several of their brands and retail stores to build an omni-channel network, the statement said.

Funding will be used towards hiring, expansion and catering to different customer segments, the statement noted. The company has already made new hires this year, in addition to opening new regional offices.

Zbooni provides ecommerce and payments for social media channels

Zbooni offers a mobile selling app with social payment features targeted at SMEs. Apart from allowing businesses to build online stores, it also enables payments via social media channels and supports invoicing as well.

The company was founded in 2016 by Ramy Assaf and Ashraf Attia, and currently has 4,000 SME clients. It raised its first Series A tranche in January this year from an undisclosed investor. The funding was aimed at expanding across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

“Our solutions help businesses seamlessly transition into a new era of commerce, offering more relevant ways to sell and interact with customers.

 

What started as an innovative way of capturing business payments via messaging apps is evolving into a wider solution, built with a focus on being mobile and simple to use,”

Assaf, Zbooni CEO, said.

The company recorded a growth of 600% in 2020, amidst an ecommerce boom in the MENA region.

Last year, 45% of consumers reported an increase in their online shopping habits as compared to before the pandemic. This year, this base of online shoppers grew by 209 million to reach 53%.

Featured image credit: Zbooni